1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of web portals. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate generally to the storing and retrieving of multi-dimensional display configurations that are extensible.
2. Related Art
Delivering content over a network, such as, the Internet, takes into account various contextual parameters. For instance the retrieval and the storage of resources by an electronic device associated with an end user is based on a set of criteria that sets up the context from which the end user is operating.
A typical set of criteria may include language, geographic region, web browser, and device. The language criterion sets up the language the content is presented to the end user. The geographic region establishes from what region the end user is associated, and can be used to further qualify the language criterion. For instance, two slightly different versions of the French language are spoken in France and Canada, namely, native French and Canadian French. The device criterion establishes from which device the end user is using to view the displayed content.
Previously, developers of web content were only concerned with one primary contextual environment. Nearly everyone accessing web content over the Internet was using a desktop computer enabled with one of two major web browsers. As such, web content could easily be developed to support this primary contextual environment. That is, developers needed only to develop web content for delivery using hypertext markup language (HTML) that was suitable for viewing by a desktop computer in a particular geographic region. Specifically, the name value pairs in the HTML language need not be changed to support various contextual environments, since there was only one environment of concern.
However, with the advent of mobile access and wireless communication, many variations of contextual environments were suddenly created. As a result, web content that was suitable for delivery to a desktop computer was not suitable for delivery to a wireless electronic device. For instance, web content designed for presentation on a desktop display could not easily be delivered and presented on a much smaller display for a mobile device, such as, a mobile phone, or a personal digital assistant (PDA).
Moreover, translation of HTML formatted to deliver content to a desktop computer environment to a suitable wireless protocol for delivery of web content to wireless devices is difficult. The two contextual environments are sufficiently different to prevent an easy translation. For instance, text designed for display on a large desktop display can include hundreds of characters per line. On the other hand, a small display associated with a wireless device may only be able to support text of a few characters in length. A straight translation from HTML to a wireless protocol would require the end user to endlessly scroll through the text a few characters at a time.
Also, many wireless devices exist. Each of these wireless devices may present a unique format for display. That is, there may be corresponding and unique display formats for each of the wireless devices. As can be imagined, a logistical nightmare would exist for a content provider to develop content that is fully supportable by each of the varying formats. That would prove to be prohibitively expensive, as each format would require its own team of web designers to display the content appropriately.
In addition, a typical set of criteria was not extensive, since the contextual environment previously did not vary. The typical contextual environment of the prior art described an end user operating from his or her home with a desktop computer within a specific geographic location. As such, the typical set of criteria did not include other contextual environments, such as, mobile access, access from the office, access from the home, access from a wireless device, access from other geographic locations, access using other languages, etc.
As a result, stringent development of web content for a specific contextual environment, namely a desktop computer using a major browser in a particular geographic region, is not capable of delivering web content to a variety of contextual environments, including a variety of wireless mobile access environments. Specifically, previous development of web content for a particular contextual environment did not allow for extending the contextual environment within the markup language used to deliver the content to include other contextual environments.